Manufactured articles can present large or substantial viewable surface areas. Often it is desirable to apply a graphic design to one or more of these surface areas. Graphic designs include ordered patterns, random non-patterns, discrete simple graphic elements, complex graphical images and the like. Printing, painting, and engraving are just a few examples of techniques that may be employed to apply a graphic design to an article. Engraving may involve carving, cutting, or etching the surface of the assembly components to permanently remove surface area material of the article. Laser etching is particularly useful for creating graphic designs on the surface of an article. The graphic design may be etched into the article surface during its manufacture. A design may be applied after an article has been incorporated as a component to another article or structure. Common articles having substantial surface areas for applying a graphic design are boards, doors, facings, floors, moldings, siding, fencing, railing, and walls.
One of the difficulties associated with the laser etching of a graphic design over a substantial surface area is that laser etching equipment is typically not capable of etching a large detailed graphic design in a single unitary application of the whole graphic over the surface on an article. This difficulty is particularly acute when the articles of manufacture are mass-produced in a repeating process or a continuous process such as an extrusion process. This can occur in the context of a manufacturing assembly line process involving the continuous repeated applications of a detailed graphic design in real-time. This can be a high-speed process as occurs with articles having a flat surface. Or a slower process involving the application of a complex graphic design to a flat, curved or three-dimensional surface of an article, such as in an indexing process of manufacture performed on a continuous or batch basis. To some extent the difficulties in applying a detailed or complex laser etched graphic design can also occur in craft-based methods of manufacturing.
To address this need, computerized laser etching methods have been developed for laser marking a graphic design in smaller sub-component sections of a multi-component assembly of the whole graphic design. The graphic design is first partitioned into a plurality of graphic design component sections. Each of the graphic design sections is assigned to a corresponding component section of the surface area divided into a plurality of components for presenting the whole graphic design. The graphic design sections are laser marked onto corresponding component sections of an article's surface area. The graphic image may be no larger than the field size of the laser, however.
A problem can arise in the context of joining the component sections during the laser etching process to form a unitary image of a whole graphic design, particularly for relatively large work pieces that have a visible area exceeding the field size of the laser. The location at which the component sections of the graphic are joined is called the border or demarcation line, wherein the laser etched lines from separate component sections of the whole graphic meet together. Often this meeting point will involve a slight gap or a slight overlap in the laser graphic lines associated with separate but adjoining component sectional areas. This problem typically arises in the application of joined graphic designs as the meeting point will involve a visually perceptible imperfection forming a notable demarcation line between the two component sections of the graphic design when applied by laser etching. The demarcation is a substantial problem as it detracts from the overall aesthetic quality of the manufactured article.